80% of Medical Bills Have Errors

By consumerist.comMay 14, 2009

Read those bills from doctors and hospitals carefully! According to a report cited by Consumer Reports Health, up to 80% of all such bills contain errors. CRH recommends insisting on an itemized bill — and reading it carefully. Some of the more common errors:

Incorrect dates of service – make sure you’re not being charged for a room on the day you were discharged from the hospital, which most plans don’t allow.

Inflated room charges including fees for incidentals like sheets and towels that should already be included in the room charge.

Duplicate fees for tests and procedures.

Human errors-one mistaken keystroke could result in the wrong billing code.

Inflated operating room time-your hospital should have an exact record of when your surgery began and ended.